Labour appeals for donations after Reform receives £72m in 24 hours
The Labour Party has sent an “urgent request” to members to donate after Reform UK received £72 million in just 24 hours.
The Labour Party has sent an “urgent request” to members to donate after Reform UK received £72 million in just 24 hours.
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In an email seen by LBC, Labour referenced the whopping donation, saying the incident “has never happened before in British politics”.
“Two donors have given Reform £72 million. In a single day. Both crypto-billionaires,” the statement says.
The party warned of the dangers of funding Farage’s “divisive messaging” and urged members to consider donating to “help Labour fight back”.
“We cannot let less than a handful of extraordinarily wealthy crypto-billionaires simply drown Labour’s message out in elections to come,” the party writes. “Reform dominating what voters see and hear, Labour fighting to be heard.”
Read more: Reform’s record £36m cash boost puts party on ‘level playing field’, says Tice
LBC has contacted the Labour Party for comment.
A Labour spokesperson pointed to the party's position on donations more widely - in particular, Bridget Phillipson's statement on Christopher Harborne’s £ 36 million Reform donation.
Phillipson said: "Farage can't buy his way out of the sleaze and scandal he and Reform UK are drowning in - or the multiple police investigations that are ongoing into Reform’s dodgy finances,
"The serious questions Farage and Reform need to answer aren't going away - in fact, they're just piling up,
"It's time Farage and Reform came clean with the public, fully co-operated with the ongoing police investigations and prove they're not just in it for themselves."
On Saturday, it was revealed that Crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne has matched the record £36 million donation to Reform UK made by British billionaire Ben Delo.
Thai-based businessman Christopher Harborne, the party’s biggest donor, said on Saturday he was matching the donation by Ben Delo, revealed on Friday.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Harborne said the donation was “a philanthropic gift to our country” intended to help Reform prepare for government.
He said: “Whilst I have been making donations to Reform of around £1 million a month, Ben Delo told me he was going to make a record donation of £36 million.
“My competitive spirit inspired me to match it, so that is what I’ve done. And I hope others may join us.”
The donation means Mr Harborne retains his position as Reform’s largest donor, having already given £9 million to the party last August.
A separate £5 million gift from Mr Harborne to Nigel Farage is also at the centre of an investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog after the Reform leader failed to declare it in his register of interests.
In his Telegraph article announcing the donation, the billionaire said the UK needed a “profitable and dynamic economy” to be able to address the three “existential threats” of nuclear war, AI and climate change.
His donation comes after billionaire co-founder of crypto trading platform BitMEX, Ben Delo, gave the party £36 million.
This briefly made him Reform’s largest-ever donor, before Harborne matched this sum.
When speaking to LBC earlier on Saturday, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice said that Delo’s donation may encourage other donors to give to the party.
Tice said the donation would put Reform “on a level playing field” with Labour and the Conservatives.
When asked what the party will do with the millions, Tice said: “It'll allow us to employ campaign managers, as I say, in almost every constituency across the country.
“It will allow us to employ the best, highest-quality researchers, policy people, and to retain the best... And having that confidence, it actually gives other potential donors additional confidence as well.”
Mr Delo, who moved back to the UK from Hong Kong in order to avoid a proposed cap on donations from overseas voters, was pardoned by US President Donald Trump last year after a conviction for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act.
The Telegraph reported he had intended to give Reform £1 million a month up until the next election, but was donating the money in a lump sum in case the Government introduced a cap on all political donations.
MPs last week backed measures including a cap on overseas donations at £100,000 and a suspension of funding through cryptocurrency, but the draft legislation still needs to be passed by the House of Lords to become law.
Backbench calls for a cap on all donations have not been successful.
The twin donations offer Mr Farage’s party a boost after a summer dominated by scrutiny of Reform’s finances, including the launch of a criminal investigation into allegations it breached rules on political donations.
Reform UK denies any wrongdoing and has said it will co-operate fully with the probe.